Italy, Greece, Albania sign Memorandum of Understanding on TAP

The governments of Italy, Greece and Albania confirmed their political support for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project by signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) yesterday evening, TAP reported on Friday.

"Concluded on the margins of the United Nations General Assembly meeting in New York, and in the presence of representatives from the US government, the MoU provides TAP with the necessary political support to continue its commercial activities in Italy, the report said. Completing the regulatory approvals will be the next steps".

According to the TAP's Managing Director Kjetil Tungland, the signing is another great step forward for the project and is testament to TAP's commercial and technical strengths and the significant benefits that it will bring to these countries.

He added that signing follows a number of major milestones that TAP has achieved this year, including being the first pipeline to be chosen by the Shah Deniz Consortium in February, a Cooperation Agreement with the Consortium in June and the Funding Agreement with BP, SOCAR and Total that was signed in August.

"We are working to achieve further progress in the project in the coming months," Tungland said.

TAP will take natural gas from the giant Shah Deniz II development in Azerbaijan, via Greece and Albania, across the Adriatic Sea to southern Italy, allowing further transport into Western Europe. Designed to expand the transportation capacity from 10 to 20 bcm per year, TAP, if chosen, will open up the so-called Southern Gas Corridor, which will enhance Europe's energy security by contributing to the diversification of the region's gas supplies.